DC Universe Online Becomes Legendary

For the last several years, DC Comics has been producing weekly series based on its legendary characters. From 52 to Countdown to Infinite Crisis to Trinity to Wednesday Comics, each series has taken an important component of the DC Universe and expanded upon it every seven days, sometimes for as long as a year. Already this week DC has announced two new bi-weekly series (Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost), and today the publisher is adding a new weekly series, DC Universe: Legends, to that arsenal. But this time it's reaching out to its gaming partners to find its core concept. This time DC Comics is creating a new world based on Sony Online Entertainment's DC MMO.

Surely most of you have heard of DC Universe Online, a massively multiplayer online action-RPG that focuses on putting players in the shoes of rookie heroes and villains, fighting alongside DC icons like Batman, Superman and the Joker. In an attempt to bridge comic book and gaming audiences, DC is working with SOE to construct a series that not only tells a core story but connects with gamers, giving them hints, strategies and even a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of the game.

Though many details surrounding the project are too early to reveal, we spoke to DC's Executive Editor Dan DiDio for more on Legends, which is set to debut later this year.

IGN Comics: How did DC Universe: Legacies come about? Was this a project Sony approached you with or an opportunity your editorial team spotted?

Dan DiDio: Well, it sort of came about together. Sony Online Entertainment was in the process of building the game. They were working with Jim Lee and used some of our writers. Geoff Johns did the initial bible for the game, setting up the world. They're working with so much of our talent at Wildstorm as well that we felt it would only be natural to create something that would be able to not only support but expand upon and interact with the game itself.

One of the reasons I wanted to do something on a weekly basis was because I wanted to build a series that would move at the quickest speed of our delivery system, tying into the game so we'd have a connection between the two.

IGN Comics: I know this is pretty early to be talking creative teams, but are you able to reveal anyone involved with the project at this point?

DiDio: We'll be revealing the team slowly throughout the future, but I think it's safe to reveal the writers. Right now we have Tony Bedard and Dan Jurgens on board.

IGN Comics: You mentioned Geoff, Jim and Wildstorm a second ago. I know Marv Wolfman has also been helping SOE develop the game. Will any of those creators be involved here in some capacity?

DiDio: That's actually the thing right now. As we're working out the format, I'm sure Marv will be involved in some way, shape or form. He knows intimately what's going on in the game itself. We'll also be using a number of people from Wildstorm not only for the designs, but hopefully for the art itself as they're the ones who set the design from the start.

IGN Comics: Now this is set in the game universe, correct? Does it interact with the game in any sense?

DiDio: Well there are a number of things that are going to go on. First, we're going to set up the conceit of the universe, how it works and what the rules are. We'll also be trying to work gaming tips and secrets into the body of the book as we move along in the series. You'll see a lot of support material including turnarounds and designs that went into the actual building of the game.

What I think is the most exciting thing is that, if everything is working as well as we hope once we get down the line, characters that players create actually have an opportunity to work their way from the game into the comics themselves.

IGN Comics: Now this is set in the entirety of the DC Universe, within the game's world, but previous weekly series have focused on a specific set of characters. Is that going to be the case this time? Will Legends focus on a particular group of heroes or villains?

DiDio: Well, you know there are going to be a lot of stories created over the course of the game itself. They'll be introducing situations that the people playing the games can interact with, and what we plan to do is line up our stories that we can feed into the backstory of those events, detailing what our heroes are doing in those events while the people in the game are interacting with them too.

IGN Comics: I know the game is going to have a more Earth-bound focus at first, looking at a few specific DC Universe cities, expanding from there over time. Is that the case with Legends as well? The book will stay centered where the game is based?

DiDio: Well, when you're doing a weekly series naturally there will be a lot of things you have to do that the game doesn't. But we know what's being built and what will be active within the game, so what we want to do is take advantage of all the effort and energy that's being put into it so that you feel like you're in the same world as the game – the DC Universe. So we'll be using what they've created for the game as the basic style guide for the comic book itself.

IGN Comics: We're pretty early in the life of this project, so is there anything else you'd like to add?

DiDio: Yeah, we're pretty early on. There are a lot of other twists and turns that will excite fans, because we want to make this a very interactive experience that will not only be a very strong story but also capture enough of the experience of the game within the comics so that you really feel these two are really working together.

IGN Comics: No doubt this is going to be seen by a lot of gamers around IGN, so I have to ask… your favorite game, even if it's one you've seen lately?

DiDio: Well, I have to admit I'm not the biggest gamer, but I played Batman: Arkham Asylum and it blew me away. You know what I mean?

IGN Comics: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us about DC Universe: Legends, Dan